The Rev. Philip James Vanderlin, OSB, a native of Devils Lake and 1960 graduate of St. Mary’s Academy is retiring to Assumption Abbey, Richardton, ND, after living and serving in Bogota, Colombia for 47 years and Jackson Hole, Wyoming for 11 years.
Fr. Vanderlin entered Assumption College in 1960 and pronounced vows as a Benedictine monk in 1964 and ordained a priest in 1970. He did his seminary training at St. John’s University in Collegeville, MN, St. Meinrad’s School of Theology in Indiana and the Javerian University in Bogota.
The Benedictines built a monastery and two schools in Bogota where Fr. Philip also served at various other parishes and schools.
After his years in Bogota he went to Jackson, Wy. at Our Lady of the Mountains Catholic Church for 11 years, with missions in Thayne, Wy. and the Sacred Heart Chapel in the Teton National Park. As he takes up residence at the monastery in Richardton with 22 other monks on May 23, he is fond of quoting T.S. Eliot (Four Quartets), “We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”
A monastic folklore has it that “a monk never retires, he just gets a new job.” His journey has been an exhilarating adventure since leaving the Lake Region. He has travelled through Latin America visiting Benedictine monasteries and schools, and some months in Rome at the Benedictine Collegio Sant’ Anselmo. He looks forward to retirement in Richardton where he began sixty-five years ago, and says to all the people who crossed his path during those years, with a grateful heart, not “Adios” (good-bye) but “Hasta la vista” (see you again!).
If you would like to send Father Vanderlin a note or reach out to him, his address will be Assumption Abbey, 418 311 3rd Ave. W., Richardton, ND 58652.
